Act I:
The play takes in August of 1912 at the Tyrone residence. The opening scene starts with Mary Tyrone and her husband, James Tyrone, discussing Mary's return from rehab. Mary is happy to be well again and the fact she is gaining weight, but eating less. The couple conitues to talk and a small arguement begins to escalade and Mary gets upset about the money James spends on real estate investments. Their arguement comes to and abript end when Edmund errupts into a major coughing fit. Mary believes his severe coughing is from a cold, but the language of James says otherwise and does not tell Mary what he believes.
In the other room Jaime and Edmund are heard laughing and James starts to grow suspicious that the two are making fun of him. Edmund and Jaime walk ino the room and it is clear Edmund is in bad health. Edmund and Jaime begin making fun of James' snoring habits and James becomes angry with the subject. James becomes angered with Jaime and complains to him about his laziness and lack of ambition. Edmund tries to calm the two down with a humprous is story but is unsuccessful becuase James becomes offended and calls Edmund a socialist. Edmund grows upset and exits the room with a oughing fit. Jaime points out that Edmund could be seriously ill. James tells him to shut up in order to prevent Mary from worrying about his illness while she is recovering from her morphine addiction.
James and Jaime suspect Edmund has tuberculosis and take him to the doctor. While at the doctors office Jaime complains about the quality of the doctor and calls his dad a penny pincher. James then goes on a rampage telling Jaime he doesnt understand the value of the dollar. Jaime however understands the dollar value but chooses to spend the money on women and alcohol. The two then begin discussing Edmunds writing abilities and the fact that not everyone likes his works. The two also decide to hide the truth from Mary in order for her to focus on relieving her addiction of morphine. Jaime and James argue again and Jaime blames his dad for her addiction because he hired a cheap doctor to relieve her from the pain form Edmund's birth. The doctor did not understand the lasting effects morphine would have on Mary.
James and Jaime arrive home and begin with another arguement and Mary walks in. The two attempt to leave but she tells James that she knows he is lying about Edmund. As the James and Jaime leave the room, Edmund enters with another coughing fit and claims he is feeling ill. Mary takes care of Edmund and explains she does not feel welcome in the house because she only does what James wants. She then begins to critize James and Jaime about their disrespect towards women. She feels the two are spying on her. Edmund then leaves the room and Mary sits alone twitching.


Act II: Scene i-
The Scene is at 12:45 on the same August day. Edmund is sitting in the leaving room, and the Caitlyn, the maid, walks in with the pre-lunch drinks. Edmund asks for her to call in James and Jaime. Jaime walks into the room and tells Edmund that his illness may be more severe then malaria. He also criticizes him for leaving Mary alone in the room all night. He tells him that he cannot trust his word and she could still be addicted to the morphine.
Mary enters the room just as Edmund suffers from another coughing fit and she tells him to stop. Jaime makes a rude comment about his father and Mary becomes irritated and tells him to stop pointing out the weakness' of everybody. Mary then tells the two of her life philosophies and belives people have little influence on the outcome of their life. Edmund leaves the room to fetch James and Mary and Jaime are left alone together in the room. Jaime looks and Mary and knows she is back on morphine by the glaze in her eyes. James and Edmund enter the room
James and Edmund enter the room and .James starts a brief arguement about the whiskey. They all enjoy a fairly large glass of whiskey and Mary has a sudden outburt about James not knowing what home really is. Mary's vision of home is not provided by James and she tells him that he should have remained a bachelor. She adrublty drops the subject so the family can enjoy lunch. During lunch James is staring at Mary and cannot believe the words she just said. It is then he realizes she is back on morphine.
Scene ii-
The scene takes a half an hour after the previous scene in the dining room. James enters in and anger and Edmund enter heartsick. Mary and James argue again about what a home should be. Mary is not all there mentally becuase of the morphine. The phone rings and it is the doctor. James confirms that Edmund will go into the doctor's office about his sickness. Mary disagrees with most of what to doctor says because she thinks he is one of James' penny saver doctors and leaves shortly.
After she leaves Jaime states she is only leaving to get more morpine and both Edmund and James grow angry with Jaime. They tell him to stop being so negative about people. Jaime tells the two to they need to face the truth. James tells the two they have forgotten catholicism. He admits he is not the most avid follower but he tells them he prays every morning.
After Edmund leaves the doctor confirms that Edmund has tuberculosis. The doctor says that if Edmund gets treated immediatly he could be healthy in 6 to 12 months. Jaime insists that Edmund is treated immediatly and not by some cheap doctor. James states there is no point to pay high rates to cure something when a person is going to die anyways.
Mary enters the room and tells James that Jaime would have been a good son if he had been risen in a home she had envisioned. Mary insists that Jaime should no longer recieve money becasue he will end up spending it on liquor. James replies by saying that her morphine addiction would cause any man to drink. James tells her to take the new car he bought her home. Mary tells him that he should not have bought the car since she has no friends to visit ever since they got married. She tells James of his mistress when the two were first married and blames that on the loss of here friends.
Mary then goes on a tanget about why she is addicted to morphine. She blames it largely on the fact that her husband hired a cheap doctor because he is such a stien. James tell her to forget the past, but Mary responds by saying the past is what is in the present. Mary then blames her self for the loss of one of her children when they were only two years of age. After the death of on of her children James insited on have another baby, Edmund. Mary knew he would be weak because God was going to punish her for not being responsible
with her other child.
Edmund walks in and requsts money from James. James gives him the money. Edmund feels uncomfortable about taking the money because he feels James will regret the decision because he is dying. James is hurt by the assumption made by Edmund and Edmund apologizes for his words and the twomake amends. MAry insists that Edmund stop seeing the doctor but Edmund tells her that she needs to lay off the morphine. Mary denies it but soon says she can no longer handle herself and hopes one day for redemption.


Act III:
The scene begins in the dining room just before dinner. Mary and Cathleen are left alone in the room and the two begin drinking. The two begin talking about James' obsession with money and Mary refuses to admit that her son has tuberculosis. Mary then starts talking about her childhood as a catholic girl. Mary then gets on subject of her morphine addiction and we learn Cathleen is the one who supplies the morphine to Mary. Mary the tells Cathleen of hers dreams of becoming a nun or a pianist. However these dreams disinigrated after she met James after a play. She says her father introduced the two and he has been a good husband the last 36 years. Cathleen exits the room and Mary is left alone. Mary becomes upset when she starts recalling past memories. She begins to think how happy she was before she met Jamse and she feels she can no longer pray to the virgin because she is a drug addict. Edmund and James then enter the room.
The two immediatly recognize that she is on large doses of morphine and she asks why they returned from the happier uptown. They are both drunk and Jaime is still uptown with his whores. Mary calls her son Jaime a hopeless failure and fears he will bring down Edmund. She again begins to recall the past and comlains. James wonders why he comes home to his doped out wife and just ingnores her comments. Mary goes on ranting about how smart Jaime was until he started drinking.
The mood changes when Mary thinks about when she met James. James begins crying and he tells her he loves her. Mary states she regrets marrying James because of his drinking habits. She says she is a bad wife because her father spoiled her as a child. Edmund tells Mary that he has tuberculosis and she immediatly does not believe what he is saying. She feels he is only saying that to get attention. Edmund has to remind his mother that her father had the disease, and it is hard living ith a doped out mother. Mary is left alone and is screaimg for more morphine and secretly wants to overdose but knows the Virgin Mary would never forgive her. James enters the room and Mary tells him that Edmund is going to die. James tells her that he will be cured in 6 months. Mary feels Edmund hates her because she is a druggy and James comforts her,l but she again blames her self for the birth of Edmund. Cathleen comes out and announces dinner is ready.

Act IV:
The scene takes place on the same day at midnight. James is sitting in the living alone, drunk, playing solitaire when Edmund enters drunk also. The two argue about wether to keep the lights on and how much it would cost. The arguement ecalades and James threatens to hit Edmund and all the lights get urned on. Edmund tells his father he loves walking in the fog because it lets him feel like he is in a different world. Edmund begings reciting multiple literatue works and James tells him to focus more on catholicism.
The two hear Mary walkin around upsairs and talk about her fathers death of tuberulosis. Edmund tells James that they only talk about negative topcs. James tells Edmund that even though Mary wanted to be nun, she did not have the state of mind. The two hear Mary coming down the stairs but choose to ignore her. Edmund then blames James for her morohine addiction because he hired a quack of a doctor to help her. Edmund then states he hates his father and he thinks he will die of tuberculosis because he only spends money on real estate. Edmund said he would rather die then enter a cheap rehab center.
James states Edmund is drunk and ignores the comments. He tells Edmund he will send him to any rehab that is reasonable. James states he is stingy because he had to work hard for all the money he has obtained. James feels his sons do not understand the cost of money and Edmund tells his father that at one point he attempted to commit suicide. James begins to cry and tells his son of the hardships he had as a child and the terrible father he had when he was growing up as a child. The two stop bickering and agree on the appropiate rehab center for Edmund. James then tells his son of a his mistake in the theatrical business that took away his fame. James says all he really wanted was to be an artist and Edmund just laughed in disbelief. Edmund then tells of his memories out at sea and feels he should have been born a fish or seagull.
As Jamie comes toward the house James steps into the next room leaving the brothers alone. Jamie is drunk and begins to drink more prohibiting Edmund to drink at first because of his health. Jamie then begins to describe his evening at the whorehouse where he paid for a fat whore whom no one else would take. This makes Edmund angry and he attacks Jamie with punch for belittling other people. Jamie thanks him for that and they begin a heart to heart. During this time the two realize the problems with their mother and Jamie also admits to being a bad influence on Edmund. He then passes out.
James enters the room. He was heard everything Jamie has said and calls him a waste. This makes Jamie wake up and the begin another arguements. The mother come down. She does not want to hear it anymore. The three men pour a drink and the play ends.

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